“My husband’s in bits. It’s like there’s no grave there. They’ve just gone over it with a tractor.

“That was our son’s grave and it’s now a dirt track.”

Jonathan’s grave did not have a headstone yet, but was marked with a large wooden cross. Mrs McGrath and Jonathan’s dad Kevin McGrath have laid flowers on the spot twice a week since he was laid to rest there.

Liverpool council today apologised to Jonathan’s family and said an investigation is underway into how it happened. Jonathan, who went to Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College, Fazakerley, suffered sudden heart failure from an undetected defect in April last year.

The Everton mad youngster had watched the Blues beat Manchester United in the FA cup semi-final at Wembley six days earlier.

Mrs McGrath, a nurse at the Royal Liverpool hospital, added: “You go through all that and the only comfort you’ve got is doing nice things to the grave.”

But she also said: “The council have been good. They didn’t make any excuses. They were just gob-smacked.”

Shortly after his son’s death Mr McGrath, of Walton Hall Avenue, Walton, spoke of how Jonathan was blossoming from a boy into young man. He added: “Jonathan just had a really generous nature.

“He was such a passionate, dedicated Evertonian. I got him a half season ticket in the Gwladys Street for Christmas and he was so happy.”

A Liverpool council spokeswoman said: “A representative from the city council has met the family and promised that work to repair the area around the grave will be fully completed today.

“A full investigation will take place into the circumstances of this incident, but at this stage we would like to extend sincere apologies to the McGrath family.

“The cemeteries and crematoria team acknowledge that on this occasion their normally high standards of service were not met. The service carries out over 6,000 burial and cremations every year and incidents such as this are extremely rare.”